I'm so glad you'll be wearing your natural hair out soon! I know it can be scary to show our real hair the first time, but I do think it will be worth it. Nothing is more beautiful than a head full of natural curls. Know that there will most likely be an adjustment period where you will need to learn how to work with your hair, so give yourself a bit of room to experiment.

A couple suggestions to make your transition a bit easier are:

1) Maybe set your natural hair first. You don't have to do everything all at once. It may be too much of an adjustment. When you wash and comb your hair, you could let it get almost dry, then gently fingercomb, and set it in two to four braids (or more), or even french braids (if your hair will let you). I have a picture of me wearing my hair in waves if you want to see what it looks like on natural hair.

All I did was lightly finger-comb out my dry hair (very slowly and gently) spritz lightly with water, then braid it in two french braids and sleep on it over night. In the morning I undid the braids, and didn't fingercomb. This can last about a week. If you put your hair back in a single braid at night, or a bun, your hair will look straighter and straighter (I'd suggest not combing or brushing, to cut down on damage, wear and tear, and to keep the set a bit firmer). Know that the more braids you put in, the tighter your wave pattern will be, but the better your hair will keep its set (our hair loves to be curled, so the more you let it do that, the better a style holds).

If you like a more "set" look, you can lightly spritz your hair with water and re-french braid your hair every night. And this is a fine, sustainable solution. This might work out really well for you, because this gives you 100% natural hair that looks much like a really really good weave. And if you are gentle, it doesn't damage your hair at all, so you can do this forever, if you like.

2) The second is to take a bit of your hair out early, like a bit in the front, and experiment with it, seeing how it curls, how to define your curls (if you are going to use the techniques I mention on the site). This way you have time to learn about your own natural curls without worrying about what you will do with an entire head full of curls at once. And during the day you can braid or twist that hair and tuck it behind your ears, or wear a scarf or headband to hide it if you want.

If you are very nervous about the drastic change between wearing your hair in the wig/ weave/ flat ironed, I strongly suggest you try that braid set until you get your natural curl "legs". This will be gentle on your hair, and it won't be as big a shock to you or the people in your life you might be worried about. It will look much like your wig/weave/flat ironed hair, so you will be able to ease into your beautiful natural hair gradually.